REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $66.34 a barrel at 0144 GMT, up 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $70.49 per barrel, 3 cents below their last settlement.

U.S. NUCLEAR RESILENCE

DOE - The U.S. Department of Energy estimates power outages are costing American businesses around $150 billion per year.

That's a lot of money that could be reinvested back into the economy.

The truth is, having a resilient power source not only saves money but also maintains the critical resources our country needs to be safe and secure.

DOE recently released a report that dives into the emerging technology of advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) and their ability to flexibly provide carbon-free power in response to outages caused by severe weather and physical threats to the grid.

Resiliency Benefits of U.S. Advanced SMRs

There are a number of benefits to SMRs, ranging from increased safety features that passively cool reactor cores without the need for operator action to better financing options thanks to quicker construction times, less components and smaller sizes.

According to the report, U.S. military and other national defense facilities, such as DOE's national laboratories, are prioritizing backup power sources to maintain operations.

SMRs, coupled with transmission upgrades, can also help meet these resiliency needs in a number a ways:

Fuel Security

SMRs can easily store up to two years' worth of fuel on-site, allowing them to maintain power during and after extreme weather events or other threats to the grid.

Flexibility

Certain designs, like DOE-supported NuScale Power, LLC, can vary their energy output over days, hours and even minutes. This allows SMRs to respond quickly to a grid outage and adjust to changing load demands.

SMRs can also start up from a completely de-energized state without receiving energy from the grid. This can help the grid meet system requirements in terms of voltage, frequency and other attributes when recovering from an outage.

Security

In-ground construction of SMRs make them less vulnerable to extreme weather events and other physical attacks on the grid. They also use minimal electrical parts that reduce vulnerability to electromagnetic pulses.

Independent Operation

SMRs can operate connected to the grid or independently, allowing them to power a campus facility in the event of grid failure.

Improving Resiliency at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The report looks specifically at how SMRs operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority could help meet the resiliency needs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory—DOE's largest consumer of electricity.

The lab plays an important role in nuclear energy research and technologies, as well as national security. It's also home to some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world that require a continuous supply of energy to safeguard analytical results and the machines.

The report, conducted by Kutak Rock and Scully Capital for DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, builds on a January 2017 report that provides guidance for federal agencies on purchasing SMR-generated power. It also lists a set of recommendations that include utilizing SMRs on-site for future research and the production of medical isotopes.

WNA - The USA is the world's largest producer of nuclear power, accounting for more than 30% of worldwide nuclear generation of electricity. The country's 99 nuclear reactors produced 805 billion kWh in 2016, almost 20% of total electrical output.

PLATTS - "The domestic uranium mining industry needs US government assistance to survive the foreign onslaught -- particularly from Russia and Kazakhstan -- that has undermined the US uranium industry while new players -- particularly China -- will soon make the situation worse," Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy said in a petition they jointly filed with the department.

EIA projects that global nuclear capacity will grow at an average annual rate of 1.6% from 2016 through 2040, led predominantly by countries outside of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). EIA expects China to continue leading world nuclear growth, followed by India. This growth is expected to offset declines in nuclear capacity in the United States, Japan, and countries in Europe.

REUTERS - “If we lose our supply chain, if we lose our intellectual chain of supply of bright scientists because we basically pushed the nuclear industry back, then we’re going to lose our role as a leader when it comes to nuclear energy in the world,” Perry said.

CARNEGIE - The United States generates one-fifth of its electricity using one hundred nuclear power reactors. That’s more reactors than in any other country, but until 2013 the last construction start in the United States was in 1977.

Chronicle:

AOG - The Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) is to invest around $22bn on new energy projects across the next five years, with the renewables sector accounting for an increasing share of electricity generation, according to CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer.

TRANSCANADA - TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TransCanada or the Company) announced net income attributable to common shares for fourth quarter 2017 of $861 million or $0.98 per share compared to a net loss of $358 million or $0.43 per share for the same period in 2016. For the year ended December 31, 2017, net income attributable to common shares was $3.0 billion or $3.44 per share compared to net income of $124 million or $0.16 per share in 2016.

ROSATOM - February 13, 2018, Moscow. – ROSATOM and the Ministry of Scientific Research and Technological Innovations of the Republic of Congo today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy.

FRB - Industrial production edged down 0.1 percent in January following four consecutive monthly increases. Manufacturing production was unchanged in January. Mining output fell 1.0 percent, with all of its major component industries recording declines, while the index for utilities moved up 0.6 percent. At 107.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 3.7 percent higher in January than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector fell 0.2 percentage point in January to 77.5 percent, a rate that is 2.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.